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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 1988)
Texas A&M fhursday, March 31,1988 College Station, Texas Vol. 87 No. 123 GSRS 045360 14 Pages- reek task force works on alcohol policy By Karen Kroesche Senior Staff Writer The Alcohol Issues Task Force, a jbcommittee established by the In- ^rfraternity Council in an effort to educe the threat of alcohol-related hcidents, met for the first time [Vednesday. Prompted in part by the recent |eath of Sigma Alpha Epsilon mem- er Gary Wayne Corn, the IFC es- bblished the 12-member task force precommend policy guidelines gov- Irning fraternity parties and hopes make recommendations to the auncil before the end of the semes- ■r. Greek adviser Charles Goodman said Corn’s death was one of many factors that led to the establishment of the alcohol task force, and he commended the SAE fraternity for changes that they have already made in their chapter regarding alcohol policy. “Sure these issues existed before,” Goodman said. “But we owe an obli gation to both Gary and the family to see to it that if changes are necessary that those changes are made.“ Corn, a sophomore, died in a one- car collision after leaving a fraternity mixer last month. Task force chairman Bill Harri son said he does not know whether Corn was under the influence of al cohol when the accident occurred, The 12-member Alcohol Issue Task Force Committee is in the process of formulating recommendations that emphasize “specificity rather than glittering generali ties. ” — Greek adviser Charles Goodman and a spokesman for the Bryan Po lice Department said the results of a blood-alcohol test on Corn have not been filed yet. IFC President Steven Parker said the University asked the council to formulate policies in order to mini mize risks to the individuals involved in fraternity activities, as well as to the fraternities and the University, either of which potentially could be held liable for alcohol-related acci dents or deaths under the new hosts laws. Goodman said the 12-member committee is in the process of for mulating recommendations that em phasize “specificity rather than glit tering generalities.”' The committee will be looking at such issues as what food and alterna tive beverages should be provided at parties, carding, designated driver programs, and even proper advertis ing. Once concrete policy recommen dations are formulated, they will be presented to the Interfraternity Council for approval, Goodman said. Harrison said the first meeting Panel advises (Senate to pass weapons treaty WASHINGTON (AP) — The ISenate Foreign Relations Committee Irecommended overwhelmingly ■Wednesday that the Senate ratify a [historic treaty to eliminate all U.S. and Soviet medium-range nuclear veapons. “This is a small step away from the tuclear brink,” Sen. Alan Cranston, )-Calif., said following the commit tee’s 17-2 vote. Committee chairman Claiborne Pell, D-R.L, said, “It means the el evator of nuclear escalation will fi- aally stop and hopefully descend.” Cranston said his head count ^hows no more than five senators vill vote against the Intermediate- tange Nuclear Forces Treaty when |the full Senate takes up the treaty, probably late next month. Ratifica- jtion requires a two-thirds Senate ma- pority, 67 votes if all 100 senators are aresent and voting. The only dissenting votes inside the committee were cast by Sens. Besse Helms, R-N.C., and Larry [Pressler, R-S.D. Helms has worked I'igorously to derail the treaty. The resounding committee vote fcapered over a bitter partisan dis pute over an amendment added to The treaty on Tuesday with the aim fcf assuring that the meaning of the pact cannot be reinterpreted by a fu ture president without the consent fcf Congress. [ Many moderate Republicans said |he amendment represented a parti- lan jab at President Reagan and his administration’s reinterpretation ot the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to permit the deployment of a Star Wars missile defense system. Several GOP lawmakers said the controversy may cause them to reas sess their support of the treaty and Cranston said he may be willing to search for a compromise when the Senate debates the issue. The treaty, signed Dec. 8 by Presi dent Reagan and Soviet leader Mik hail S. Gorbachev, requires both sides to destroy, within three years, all nuclear-armed missiles with a range of 300 miles to 3,400 miles. On the lookout Freshman Matt Mars and senior Tom Skrocki look out a window in Rudder Tower Wednesday as they wait in sponsor. Photo by Mike C. Mulvey a warm place for their Fish Camp PUC extends case until May 16, gives GSU $22.5 million increase AUSTIN (AP) -— On the day it had planned to end the marathon case, the Public Utility Commission Wednesday extended the Gulf States Utilities rate case until May 16 and gave the company an interim in crease of $22.5 million. That increase is in addition to a $39.9 million interim hike in effect since last April. Under the interim plan, GSU’s residential customers will initially pay about $2 to $3 more per month for 1,000 kwh, according to GSU spokesman Kim McMurray. Sometime next month, residential rates will increase again by “several dollars a month,” McMurray said. The interim rates must be re funded to customers if the PUC eventually approves lower perma nent rates. The final decision is now House expects no trouble with passing Contra aid bill WASHINGTON (AP) — House [leaders agreed Wednesday on a $48 [million package of humanitarian aid [for the Contra rebels in Nicaragua [and for children injured in seven [years of civil war, and they predicted [easy passage on the House floor. Authors of the compromise pack age portrayed it as a gesture of U.S. [support for a temporary truce [reached last week between the rebels [and the Sandinista government, and [for talks aimed at achieving a long- [term end to hostilities. “The hope is that this will lead to [political instead of military processes [now taking over” in Nicaragua, said House Majority Leader Thomas Fo- [ley, D-Wash. senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., promised speedy consideration on the other side of the Capitol, although it was unclear whether the matter could come to a vote on Thursday. GOP lawmakers said President Reagan had indicated strong support for the measure. The legislation would renew aid to the rebels, whose last U.S. support ran out Feb. 29, and keep them to gether as a fighting force while they wait in cease-fire zones inside Nica ragua for a long-term truce to be worked out with the Sandinista gov ernment. “It sends a message to the Contras that they are not abandoned, that we do care about them and want to keep pinners of elections to be released tonight The names of winners in the Stu- ient Government elections will not be released until today at about 10 3.m., election commissioner Steve Steinbridge said Wednesday. The official results will be an nounced in front of the Academic luilding near the statue of Law- fence Sullivan Ross, he said. Steinbridge said the election re sults used to be announced by mid night on the day of the election, but that those involved with counting the ballots no longer were at the Jniversity. Employees at Texas (&M’s Measurement and Research Services office, who are tallying the results this year, can not work over time, he said. Getting the election results in volves a two-step process, he said. Steinbridge said the Measurement and Research office would run the scantrons during normal working hours. The results are coded on magnetic tape through this process, he said. An independent program special ist then will run a computer pro gram on the magnetic tape, which decodes the results. Steinbridge said announcing the winners at night is more dramatic, but he also said the election results would not be decoded from the magnetic tape until then, so they could not be announced earlier in the day. them healthy and a viable force,” said Rep. Mickey Edwards, R-Okla., who participated in negotiations to draft the compromise. “And it lets the Sandinistas know that it’s important to the United States Congress that the talks that take place down there take place with good faith, and that they move toward democratization,” Edwards added. The agreement, made possible by a 60-day cease-fire reached by the two warring sides last week, broke a weeks-long deadlock in Congress over whether to keep up the flow of U.S. aid. The House had killed ef forts to provide new supplies to the rebels on two earlier occasions this year. In agreeing to the deal, Republi cans accepted the assurances of House Speaker Jim Wright, D- Texas, that he would give any future request from President Reagan for military aid for the rebels “fair and orderly” consideration. The White House apparently dropped its past insistence on an ironclad legal guarantee of an expe dited vote, settling instead for the pledge contained in a letter from Wright to the president and to Mi nority Leader Robert Michel, R-Ill. Wright’s pledge says Reagan can ask Congress for additional rebel aid if Nicaragua’s leftist government vi olates the March 23 cease-fire or any later peace accord and if the Contras continue to observe its terms. Wright would send Reagan’s request to the appropriate House committee, which would have 10 days to act and return the measure to the full House for action. The letter suggests that Reagan first get advice on whether new mili tary aid is warranted from a commis sion established by the March 23 agreement to oversee the cease-fire. due by May 16. The commission set a May 9 hearing to begin making that decision. Wednesday’s 3-0 decision to delay came a day after the commission seemed on the verge of wrapping up the case that began in November 1986 when the Beaumont-based company requested a $144 million increase. A series of votes taken by the com missioners added up to a net in crease of about $22 million, includ ing a $30 million refund for fuel charge overcollections, according to PUC staff figures calculated Wednesday. But the last-minute delay became necessary because commissioners had reviewed briefs from a lawsuit that includes arguments on points similar to those at issue in the GSU case. Commissioner Jo Campbell said a decision in the GSU case might be thrown out by the courts if parties in the case did not get a chance to comment on the docu ments that the commissioners had read. The briefs were filed by several utility companies, including GSU, in requesting the Texas Supreme Court to reconsider its December decision in a Houston Lighting & Power Co. suit challenging a PUC ruling. “It’s absolutely clear it would be reversible error,” Campbell said of deciding the GSU case without al lowing the parties to respond to the HL&P case briefs the commissioners had read. But the GSU case could not have been extended beyond a Friday deadline without the company’s ap proval. The commission secured that by offering the interim increase. PUC Chairman Dennis Thomas said the interim increase would “at least keep the company in business until we can come up with a solution.” The interim decision allows GSU to keep the $30 million it owes to customers for fuel charge overcol lections until a final decision is made. McMurray said the interim in crease “is enough in the short term,” but could be a problem when the company must borrow money, prob ably in May, about the same time the final decision is now due. Thomas said the company’s finan cial hard times will not end soon, re gardless of the final outcome of the rate case. “I personally believe the company is very short on cash,” the PUC chairman said. “I also believe when they have to borrow it is going to be at extremely high rates. “This company didn’t get in fi nancial difficulty overnight and they won’t get out of it overnight. At best, we’re looking at a 3- to 4-year recov ery period.” was productive, and that the task force should have solid recommen dations to make to the IFC by May. “Our primary focus is to establish a working alcohol policy for all 26 fraternities,” Elarrison said. “By the end of the semester we will have some concrete plans.” Parker said he thinks the commit tee and its eventual recommenda tions will be a step in the right direc tion. “It will be something that we all agree to, it will be something that the University agrees to, and it will lessen our liability and promote alco hol awareness, and try to prevent anything like the SAE incident from happening,” Parker said. A&M student arrested on theft charge University Police arrested a Texas A&M student Tuesday afternoon and charged him with two counts of burglary of a habitation. Stanley Keith Wade, a freshman civil engineering major from Bay- town, was brought in by police after he confessed to several burglaries in Aston Hall, according to a police re port. Bob Wiatt, director of the Univer sity Police Department, said various items have been reported missing in a suite in Aston Hall since Novem ber. Wiatt said whoever burglarized the rooms apparently found a room key and just let himself in. In November, only jewelry was re ported missing, but after spring break, residents reported another buglary with a longer list of missing items. The new list of missing items included a microwave, a television set, a small refrigerator, a trash can, a bedspread and a pillow. “Apparently, the word spread through the dorm that someone had broken into these guys’ rooms again,” Wiatt said. “Someone saw some of the missing things in the suspect’s room and turned him in.” The police investigation revealed that the items found in Wade’s room had indeed been stolen and it was at this time that Wade confessed to the burglaries, the report said. Wade was taken before Justice of the Peace Carolyn Hensarling, who set bond at $10,000. He was then booked into the Brazos County jail where, as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, he was still being held. A&M releases nominee list for president Dr. Ed Hiler, chairman of the Texas A&M search advisory com mittee, said a list of applicants would be released today at a press confer ence. The list is expected to include James C. Miller III, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Gordon Eaton, president of Iowa State University. Both have held positions at A&M. A committee member said that be tween 150 and 200 individuals had been nominated for the position. President Frank Vandiver an nounced in January he was re signing to become head of the newly established Mosher Institute for De fense Studies. Vandiver’s resigna tion will become effective Sept. 1. President’s office reports classes will go on as usual on Good Friday By Amy Couvillon City Editor Texas A&M will have classes as usual on Good Friday, a representa tive from President Frank E. Van diver’s office said Wednesday. “There will be no holiday,” said Stella Bosquez, a secretary in the president’s office. “The University will be open.” The Texas Legislature, when it is in session, usually passes a resolution granting a day or a half-day off for state agencies. It is up to the individ ual agency to decide whether to ob serve the holiday. Last April Gov. Bill Clements signed such a resolution during the week before Good Friday and Van diver called a half-day holiday for Texas A&M and canceled all classes meeting after noon. “I am keenly sensitive to the prob lems and confusion this late an nouncement may create,” Vandiver wrote in an April 15, 1987 memo. “Also, given the uncertainty already created by various rumors and the lack of time for usual consultation, announcing these policies immedi ately is really the only alternative left to me.” But the Legislature is not in ses sion this year, and Clements has not called a state holiday. “No action has been taken on that,” said Karen Yaeger, a spokes man in Clements’ office. “It will be a regular working day.” Some A&M faculty members have complained that last year’s un planned holiday caused substantial problems for faculty. The Faculty Senate on Feb. 8 passed a resolution that protects A&M’s academic calendar from last- minute state holidays granted by the governor. The resolution — which proposes ap- that “the academic calendar proved each semester by the Faculty Senate of Texas A&M University be fixed except in cases of severe emer gency as determined by the Presi dent” — will not take effect until it is signed by Vandiver. It has been sent to the president’s office and is under consideration. According to 1987-88 University Regulations, religious holy days are included in the list of reasons for au thorized absences. But to be allowed to retake an ex amination or make up an assign ment in a class missed Friday, a stu dent must have notified the instructor of the class of the holy day before Feb. 5, the 15th day of classes. This stipulation is part of the state education code and is listed in Ap pendix IX of the 1987-88 University Regulations booklet.